firearm taxes

Illinois Democrats continue to push anti-gun legislation in Springfield, the latest being Illinois House Bill 1810 from State Representative Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan). From Brandon Merano over on the WSIL-TV (Southern Illinois ABC affiliate) website Friday:

A new bill headed to the Illinois House floor could increase what we pay for guns.

The bill would put a three-and-three-quarters percent charge on firearms and firearm parts, with revenue going to at-risk youth.

Language in HB 1810, introduced by State Representative Rita Mayfield defines “At risk Youth” as kids ages 16 – 22 who live in a “high crime area where the homicide rate is more than 4 times higher than the average rate of a community the same size.”

That suggests most of the funding would flow north to Chicago…

(Editor’s note: Bold added for emphasis)

A week ago, the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action reported on legislation introduced in the Illinois Senate by State Senator Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights)- Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 9- warning:

Under SA 2, a 5% tax would be imposed on any membership or access fee for gun clubs, shooting ranges, hunt clubs, training classes and match fees. Not only is this an abhorrent tax on your Second Amendment rights, it also requires that any of those places/people to register with the state and pay an annual fee of $75 just so that they can offer their service or membership with the 5% tax added…

(Editor’s note: Bold added for emphasis)

To see the latest actions on Illinois HB1810, visit the Illinois General Assembly website here. And for activity regarding SB0009, head to that same site here.

How many times have we seen politicians push some new controversial tax (often a “sin” tax), telling consitutents tons of new money will be coming in if its implemented.

And how many times has this turned out not to be the case, with actual revenue collected nowhere near what was “projected.”

Still, the dubious tax remains on the books as yet one more financial burden on the citizens.

Enter the Illinois “Pole Tax.”

From The State Journal-Register (Springfield, Illinois) website on August 18, 2012:

Strip clubs in Illinois will have to hand over a share of their revenues, starting in 2013, to help fund programs to prevent sexual assault and counsel victims under a law signed by Gov. Pat Quinn on Saturday.

The measure establishes a new tax on the clubs that will raise up to $1 million a year, helping to reverse several years of funding cuts for rape crisis centers. The legislation has also sparked debate over how strong of a link can be drawn between strip clubs and violent crime, and whether those businesses should pay out to fight the problems…

The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, will place an annual surcharge on strip clubs that have live nude dancing and permit alcohol. Businesses could pay $3 per customer or pay a graduated amount based on their sales. The money will go to a special fund devoted to preventing sexual violence and counseling its victims…

(Editor’s note: Bold added for emphasis)

Fast forward to this morning on the same website, which now reads:

Illinois officials say a strip club tax has generated less than 40 percent of the money that was expected when the surcharge was approved.

The Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers reports the “pole tax” raised about $380,000 in 2013. That’s far less than the $1 million predicted when the measure passed the General Assembly in 2012…

(Editor’s note: Bold added for emphasis)

Like with other sin “taxes,” one might wonder if the Illinois “Pole Tax” is really about restoring funding for rape crisis centers in the state, or is actually meant to drive out the “nudie bars” from Illinois.

Come to think of it, I wonder how much money Cook County raked in with its $25 per-gun tax on firearm purchases after a full year of being on the books. That “Violence Tax” went into effect on April 1, 2013.

Hal Dardick reported on the Chicago Tribune website back on October 31, 2012:

The gun tax would raise $600,000, Budget Director Andrea Gibson said…

We’ll see, as I suspect someone will be publicizing that actual number soon.

Back when Danny Davis (D-IL) was my congressman, I don’t recall hearing too much from him- unless he was coming up for re-election.

Well, November 4, 2014, is fast-approaching, and he and another Democratic congressman- William Pascrell (D-NJ)- whose seat is up for election have both decided to take it upon themselves to remind Americans that Democrats stand for gun “control.”

You see, Representatives Davis and Pascrell introduced HR 3018- the “Gun Violence Prevention and Safe Communities Act”- last week, which would hike federal excise taxes on firearms from 10-11 percent up to 20 percent, and hike taxes on ammunition from 11 percent to 50 percent.

I’m guessing a number of pro-gun Democrats, especially those holding office whose seats are also up for election in 2014, are livid right now.

From GovTrack.us this evening:

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the excise tax and special occupational tax in respect of firearms and to increase the transfer tax on any other weapon, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘Gun Violence Prevention and Safe Communities Act of 2013’.

SEC. 2. INCREASE IN EXCISE TAXES RELATING TO FIREARMS.

(a) In General- Section 4181 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:

‘SEC. 4181. IMPOSITION OF TAX.

‘There is hereby imposed upon the sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of the following articles a tax equivalent to the specified percent of the price for which so sold:

‘(1) Articles taxable at 20 percent:

‘(A) Pistols.

‘(B) Revolvers.

‘(C) Firearms (other than pistols and revolvers).

‘(D) Any lower frame or receiver for a firearm, whether for a semiautomatic pistol, rifle, or shotgun that is designed to accommodate interchangeable upper receivers.

‘(2) Articles taxable at 50 percent: Shells and cartridges.’.

HR 3018 would also increase the transfer tax on firearms covered under the National Firearms Act (“machine guns,” for example) from $200 to $500 and the transfer tax on all other guns from $5 to $100.

Other blogs/websites are reporting that besides ammo, this legislation hikes just handgun- not long gun- taxes, but based on the following- “Firearms (other than pistols and revolvers)”- I take this to mean rifles and shotguns as well.

Consider the following analysis of the gun “control” legislation by Michael Cohn over at AccountingToday.com:

The bill, known as the Gun Violence Prevention and Safe Communities Act, is co-sponsored by Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr., D-N.J., and Danny Davis, D-Ill. It would increase the excise taxes on firearms from the current range of 10 percent to 11 percent and raise it to 20 percent. The bill would also increase the excise tax on ammunition from 11 percent to 50 percent. It would also increase the Special Occupational Tax on firearm importers, manufacturers and dealers; include assault pistols in the definition of firearms covered under the National Firearms Act; increase the transfer tax on all weapons (except antique guns) covered under the National Firearms Act (excludes most common guns) from $200 to $500 and index to inflation; and increase the transfer tax for any other weapon from $5 to $100 and index to inflation.

All government agencies would be exempted from the tax, including federal, state and local agencies, such as police departments.

“You’re welcome to sue. We’ve looked at this and we believe we can survive any challenge.”

-Cook County, Illinois, Board President Toni Preckwinkle, on proposed new taxes on firearm and ammunition purchases within the county, October 18, 2012

On November 9, 2012, the Cook County, Illinois, Board of Commissioners voted 16 to 1 in approving Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s $2.95 billion budget for 2013- and a new $25 per gun “violence tax” on firearm purchases by law-abiding citizens to pay for the carnage caused by violent criminals.

On November 12, I blogged that there was talk of two lawsuits being drawn up against the county as a result of this tax on residents exercising a Constitutional right.

And Thursday night, I came across the following from Cook County Reporter Lisa Donovan on the Chicago Sun-Times website:

A group of Chicago area gun dealers and owners filed a lawsuit Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court, aiming to halt a new $25 tax on every gun purchase in Cook County…

“Proponents of the tax have admitted that its purpose is to curb the number of firearms in circulation. The Tax thus is intended to deter individuals from exercising their fundamental right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Second and the Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and… the Illinois Constitution,” the lawsuit states.

The suit claims the tax infringes “on the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear, and law-abiding Retailers to sell, arms as guaranteed” by state and local constitutions.

The gun tax is scheduled to go into effect on April 1.

It’s been claimed that the new tax is also a gun registration scheme being carried out by the second most populous county in the United States. On November 23, 2012, I wrote:

From the website of Maxon Shooters Supplies & Indoor Range (one of the gun shops affected) in nearby Des Plaines:

Did you know the “Violence Tax” would give the city of Chicago & Cook County COMPLETE ACCESS to all records of firearm sales, ammunition and etc. This would ALLOW law enforcement agencies to ENTER YOUR HOME to inventory and audit all your firearms & ammunition WITHOUT A WARRANT!

With the recent passage of Cook County Ordinance Number 13-O-13, which requires “persons who own or possess firearms within Cook County to promptly report to the Cook County Sheriff the loss, theft, destruction or transfer of firearms,” gun registration- whether intended or not- is now in effect in the county. From section 58-190, “Report of transferred firearms:”

I’ve blogged quite a bit about the adoption of Cook County (Illinois) Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s 2013 budget- and a new $25 per gun “violence tax” on firearm purchases in the county. However, I understand there may be something more than a gun tax going on here. From the website of Maxon Shooters Supplies & Indoor Range (one of the gun shops affected) in nearby Des Plaines:

Did you know the “Violence Tax” would give the city of Chicago & Cook County COMPLETE ACCESS to all records of firearm sales, ammunition and etc. This would ALLOW law enforcement agencies to ENTER YOUR HOME to inventory and audit all your firearms & ammunition WITHOUT A WARRANT!

Interesting. I believe the “ammunition” part no longer applies due to the bullet tax proposal being dropped. Still, if what Maxon’s is saying is true, and certain information about the purchaser of the firearm is recorded with the City of Chicago and Cook County being able to access it, then this sounds like a gun registration scheme at the local level.

The City of Chicago already has a gun registration program in place. The record-keeping associated with this new Cook County gun tax could ensnare future firearm buyers outside the city limits but still within the county.

I’ve also heard talk that the $25 the county will receive on every firearm purchase will be going to fund gun “control” efforts. That will be the topic of a future post if there’s some substance to the claim.

It took only two days before word of a lawsuit being filed against Cook County, Illinois, was out after the county’s Board of Commissioners voted 16 to 1 last Friday to approve Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s $2.95 billion budget for 2013- and a new $25 per-gun “violence tax” on firearm purchases.

Make that two lawsuits.

As regular readers of Survival And Prosperity know, one of the podcasts I like to listen to is Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk radio show, which I named a “Resource of the Week” back in July of last year.

I happened to be listening to Sunday’s show while driving to Oak Park, Illinois, this morning (oh the irony!) when Gresham, a nationally-known firearms expert and radio/television host, introduced Richard Pearson, Executive Director of the Illinois State Rifle Association (a gun rights advocacy organization and state affiliate of the National Rifle Association), and the two started talking about this new tax. From the exchange:

PEARSON: I believe that there’s at least two lawsuits being drawn up against the County of Cook, and so I think that those will go forward. I can’t say a lot about those yet. But I believe those will be going forward sometime after the new year.

GRESHAM: Okay. So we can’t talk about it but we know something is going to happen here.

PEARSON: Something’s going to happen.

GRESHAM: Something’s going to happen (chuckling).

Two lawsuits. Wonder how much those are going to cost Cook County taxpayers should the county lose in court?

That infamous $399,950 check recently drawn-up by the City of Chicago, “signed” by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and delivered to a gun rights group as reimbursement for legal fees incurred in the McDonald v. Chicago case- which the City of Chicago lost– might be a clue.

The podcast with Richard Pearson can be found on the Gun Talk website here.

After reading the following a short time ago about Cook County (Illinois) Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s gun tax on law-abiding residents to pay for the stupid actions of local criminals, I thought to myself, “I can’t get out of Cook County fast enough.” From Hal Dardick on the Chicago Tribune website at lunchtime:

The cost of buying cigarettes and guns in Cook County will rise next year after commissioners today voted 16-1 to approve County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s $2.95 billion budget.

In addition to the $1-per-pack increase on a pack of smokes and a new $25 per-gun tax on firearm purchases, the board also enacted a 1.25 percent use tax on large out-of-county purchases, with an exemption on the first $3,500 spent. There’s also a $1,000-per-year tax on slot machines and a $200-per-year tax on video gambling terminals.

The cigarette tax increases March 1, while the use tax and gun tax are effective April 1.

(Editor’s note: Italics added for emphasis)

So, it’s now “official”- Cook County, Illinois, is now the only place in America that levies a special tax on purchasers of firearms.

Funny how Cook County officials and the “watchdog” Chicago news media never talked about how this new gun tax will impact major sporting goods retailers who do brisk business selling firearms and have a presence in the county, such as Cabela’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

I’m guessing their respective corporate offices are running the numbers right now to decide whether or not to shut down their retail stores in Cook County.

Soon-to-be-seen signage at the former sites of 40 or so gun shops and the Hoffman Estates Cabela’s in Cook County? There’s plenty of these kinds of businesses already around.

In total, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and the 17 Cook County Commissioners just hiked fees and taxes for area residents and business by a projected $41.7 million. Meanwhile, Cook County residents and businesses struggle to keep afloat in the ongoing financial crisis.